RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 5] A Unique Encounter

Kokuten cringed, he didn't want both of the Uniques dead, at least, just one of them disabled enough. He was in agreement with Serra, and didn't exactly enjoy where this had gone. His mouth went agape as Deacon started claiming trophies off the women.

"God. Fucking. Damn it." Kokuten yelled. He looked to every member in the squad, he seemed worn for a second. It looked like he was tried to find out what to say. His eyes boiled into a red color as he looked around, it seemed he lost his temper.

"You." Kokuten pointed to Deacon, "I don't give a shit where you came from, or how you were raised, but here, what you just did was desecration." The Sergeant walked up to the Kohanian, appearing to get even more angered, but then simply said, "Don't do it again."

"Since my orders were drowned out in the utter flood of gunfire." Kokuten said in fairly restrained tone, and gave a disapproving look to those around him. "I'll reiterate, get your shit together, and move. We'll save the introductions and idle chatter for later."

The Doctor stepped out of the Observation Room, neglecting to check Vanderhuge's condition at the very moment. He looked around for a moment, his mind now clearing. "Where's Cyril and Keziah?"

No sooner had Tweak seen the door open then Deacon was on top of one Unique and the team had nearly gunned down the second. Tweak barely had time to step to the side until the flurry was over.

She knew what was happening, on one level. But on another level, she was confused nearly to the point of running away! So she worked here, as a security guard, and she followed the orders of the guy that the other people were following. And they were ordered to protect the people...wait, the people who had just slaughtered some of the crew? The neko frowned behind her faceplate.

And that wasn't the part that was confusing her. Who was she? Who were these people? Why couldn't she remember anything? And why did she know what these numbers and symbols that were scrolling through the air in front of her were for?

She closed her eyes and shook her head. The silver-armored people are trying to kill everyone, we can't stand around talking. Tweak raised her hand as Kokuten finished speaking.

"Sir, they're going to be looking for us now. And there are two people in the ducts over our heads, I think they opened the doors," she said, opening her helmet's faceplate.

((OOC: Really late edit, changed "worked her" to "worked here".))

"Right this way, Kaz." Cyril said, crawling back into the tunnels. He backtracked to where Keziah and himself had split off from Noboru and Claire, before heading down the tunnel he had ducked into earlier to let the other two pass. This one shot clear over the hanger bay for quite a ways, flowering out into branches every ten meters or so for the big blowers.

The gunfire had died down by that point, but Cyril wasn't an idiot. The doors opening, never mind the firefight, were loud enough that the traitors in the freighter had probably heard it. Bell and her combat hookers would be joining in the fun shortly, storming up the stairs guns blazing.

Speaking of the devil, when Cyril glanced down through on of the grates near the first branch, he could see the gaggle of silver armored harpies two stories below. They'd ditched their own weapons somewhere, opting more for the mismatch of weapons the pirates had probably carried. Trying to cover up that they were there? Little late, going from the scattered corpses of the cargo handlers.

Looking at the poor souls scorched with plasma fire down below, Cyril cut off a curse. Violence wasn't anything new to him, sad fact of growing up Nepleslian. But to just gun down all those men for seeing the wrong thing...

Bell and her pack of traitors needed to get their just deserts. And looking down at them while Bell pounded impotently on the elevator call buttons, Cyril had an idea of how to help provide.

"Oi, Kaz." Cyril whispered, looking down through the grate with narrowed eyes. "How do you fancy a spot 'o guerrilla warfare?"

Her mouth ran dry when she saw the scorched bodies. She knew, in an abstract way, that she was trained to kill. That she knew how to kill. But, up until now, she had never actually seen a corpse, had never actually seen real violence inflicted on others. Her stomach knotted up, and for once she regretted actually having a good breakfast.

The good food always comes up the worst.

But she held it back, clenching her teeth and just forcing the bile back down her throat. There'd be another time for that. Right now... right now they had a job to do.

Right now... what?

What'd Cyril say?

"Guerrilla..." Keziah looked at him. She was pale, maybe even a little green. Exhaling sharply, she looked down through the same grate as him, looking towards the other Uniques. Wasn't hard to figure out what he wanted to do.

She rocked back on her ankles, and freed her rifle from her back. "Scare and confuse tactics?"

Cyril nodded, still looking below. He didn't know if the VW mass drivers could penetrate the Uniques armor, but they could definitely try and pull a few of them off the observation deck. Hopefully without pulling a blaze of glory move. "Aye, something o' that cut." He muttered, studying how their targets were spread out.

Cyril looked up at Kaz, and noticed how shaken she was. The light enhancement from his eyes washed everything out, but that pale tone wasn't from his eyes alone. He sometimes forgot that he had a few years of hardship on the other members of his squad. Cyril's expression softened. "Oi, you holding up Kaz?"

"Sorry No-bo-ru... and erm, thanks for the info." Scarlet replied with a small embarrassed giggle, whilst walking over to him and simultaneously wrapping the sling around her metal shoulder.

The "Furry one's" sudden and brutal display actually stopped her in place once again; Half because she had never seen a live animal outside of VR, and half because she was wondering if this was normal activity for all Neplesians. Meekly attempting to hide her unflinching gaze with the side of her stolen rifle, the black-shrouded woman just stood there on a moral see-saw, until the squad leader yelled out and reassured her.

"...Not standard behaviour." She decided out loud, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

When the familiar face of Fetch turned up, Scarlet just tried to put the "furry one" at the back of her mind for now, and waved for her fellow Spacer to follow Noboru along with her. "Come 'ere Fletchy! This guy knows who to turf! These harlots have pretty good kit, through, so I don't know how much firepower my metal bits will stop..."

…She was, in a round-a-bout way, telling him to use her as a meat shield. Even combined with the fact that she was the only one without armour.

Keziah nodded, to reassure both Cyril and herself. Her breakfast had decided to stop threatening her, and just sat riotously in her stomach. That she could deal with, and took a few quick breaths to steady herself.

"Fine. Just never... nevermind." She shook her head, and looked down at the Uniques more closely.

They were pulling a standard perimeter. Five watching the outside, two plus the captain at the elevator doors. She severely doubted that their rifles had enough penetration to even bruise them, but if they didn't know that...

"So, what'll we do? Fire one burst, move, fire, move? I don't know how much cover we really have in here." She was still pale, but her training was beginning to reassert itself, giving her eyes a hard edge in them that hadn't been there a moment ago.

"Deacon, we could have probably used a captive for something... Certainly to explain this, since I assume the cameras are out of action. May I suggest we keep at least one alive?" Stovaa paused for a second, grasping for a word. "I mean, the two VIPs are pretty big deals, yeah? They could kick up a huge fuss about us killing their bodyguards, and it's the word of two VIPs against security grunts. And Mr Vanderhuge, of course. A captive could verify our story, and maybe tell us just what they were doing." He turned the corner to glance down the stairs, watching the flickering shadows on the walls below for any sign of movement, rifle held at eye level and aiming for the ground. When he spoke, it was quieter, louder than a whisper but not loud enough to drift down the stairs and far into the hangar.

"I assume those two are lurking in the vents still. Oh, and how's Vanderhuge? He's been quiet for a while..."

Noboru didn't cock his head at Deacon's display of... Brutality? Precaution? Cultural diversity? The Yamataian didn't know how to sum it up with any of the words in his vocabulary. He turned towards Scarlet. "Yeah, that's definitely not standard behavior. It makes sense if you look at it from his point of view, though. He's Kohanian, and I guess they were raised to take all precautions... Or something like that. After centuries of getting your ass kicked by the kittens, I'm not surprised that's what he does." He said off-handedly to the 'Spacer.

Looking around as she yelled out for "Fletchy"- 'Is she talking about a marine named Fletcher, perhaps? Maybe she shipped in with a Fletcher.' Noboru thought to himself- and waited with Scarlet for the newcomer to arrive. When said 'newcomer' arrived, however, he found himself a bit confused. "Fletchy" wasn't "Fletcher" at all, he was another Freespacer. The only reason Noboru could tell was because he was dressed in one of those rediculous Voidwalker suits, and the guy had hair that would make a Yamataian bishounen blush in admiration for the amount of hair spikes this one guy posessed. The shock passed quickly, however, and Noboru nodded at Scarlet's statement. "I wouldn't say I'm the best we have, but yeah, I'm alright at combat. Just one more for the entourage, so to say."

"By the way," The Yamataian finally responded to Scarlet's first statement, "It's no problem."

Kokuten looked up at the other recent arrival, and noted the 'sir'. He looked over at Fetch, arched a brow, and then looked back at Tweak. The Doctor had thought Fetch was the one he was missing earlier, but the female was giving a respectful tone. With a shake of his head, he figured it wasn't exactly the time to be too concerned about it.

"Well... Let's see." Kokuten put a hand on his chin, his rifle aimed harmlessly at the floor with the other. Tweak's information was nothing he alredy did not figure, but her confirmation got he thinking quickly. He pulled the hand on his chin over his head, and ran it through his hair. Suddenly, he thought of something.

"Noboru, Young Lady." said Kokuten, pointing to Akio and the Freespacer next to the Yamataian. "Secure Administrator Vanderhuge, make sure he's alright." He looked at Fetch. "You, help them."

"The rest of you, start moving to the stairs and take them to the next level upward. We need to get of here." said the Squad Captain, he looked over Serra, noting that she was not only without armor, but without a weapon. He strolled over to the woman and presented his weapon to her, by flipping the stock around towards her.

"Here, I want you to keep this handy." He said and looked at the other members of the squad and then at her. "Your stunning good looks and your blue blood arn't going to keep the Uniques off you."

Jen was bringing up the rear with her gun in her right hand at her side. She didn't get a single shot in at all during this skirmish so far, but then going in guns blazing wasn't exactly her specialty.

"Hey boss," yelled out to Kokuten, "don't suppose I could take this?" she referred to the Unique's weapon in her left, from a corpse in the previous room. I don't see why I should let it go to waste, better than what the H.A. gave us... as long as she doesn't make us start wearing dresses.

"Yes sir!" replied Jen as she started for the stairs.

"Yessir." Noboru once again gestured towards Scarlet, and then headed back towards the last known location of the Administrator. After all, how far could an eleven-foot-tall ID-Sol have gotten without anyone noticing?

Deacon remained perfectly stoic when Kokuten exercised his right of command. Once he had spoken, and Stovaa stepped up to make his statement. The Kohanian considered it for a moment and then nodded.

"You're right, I was lost in the battle for a moment and remembering the last time that my people were attacked. You will not need to worry, I will not act as a Kohanian any longer. It seems that my culture is not wanted here. My rifle and my blade will be stayed unless in direct defense of my squad's life. I will be at your command." The last was directed to Kokuten as he put his rifle back on his back and bowed to him, moving down the hall in silence.

Fletch smiled as Scarlet noticed him and once again utterly butchered his rather simple name. Still, it did bother him in the least bit; he was used to people making mistakes or having odd habits. He grinned and waved childishly at Scarlet.

"Hello poppet!"

He turned quickly to Kokuten and straightened up as the superior officer gave him orders. He saluted perfectly, comically perfect in fact. His face still had the shadow of a grin on it as he stood saluting, before he simply turned and followed Scarlet and the other soldier to find...well, to find someone he didn't know.

A short but violent firefight ensued after the Observation Deck's doors opened. The two Unique's, pincered between two fronts, stood little chance as they were showered with bright-blue blasts of heat. Interestingly, for the first few seconds Squad 35's weapon fire seemed wholly ineffective; the blasts either fizzled against the reflective Unique armorsuits or just plain bounced off. The force of the shots, however, had the desired effect, jerking their bodies in several directions while the firefight continued. Eventually, however, the silvery armor plating began glowing a dark orange, having literally reached its melting threshold from the constant barrage. The Uniques more than likely died from the head of their own armorsuits, rather than the squad's low-grade plasma weapons.

In the confusion, the Unique near the window was able to discharge her weapon. Either by accident or with purpose (but flawed execution), her shot caught Administrator Vanderhuge in the shoulder, melting through the thick black protective overcoat and pressing harshly into the ID-SOL's shoulder. Dick gasped gruffly and growled, taking a knee and grabbing his shoulder while the firefight finished.

In the moments after the firefight had finished, and after Deacon had performed his cultures ritualistic rites, the two corpses were relatively silent. However, quite suddenly, their bodies (including their severed heads) burst into a very familiar bright-blue flame. The Unique's weapons that Deacon and Jen were holding also quickly became engulfed in the flames...hopefully after being dropped on the ground. Within mere seconds, the bodies had disintegrated into ash.

---

When the squad finally brought it upon themselves to check on Dick's status, the ID-SOL took a deep breath and stood up. His shoulder was looking a bit tender, the wound effectively cauterized but still bearing a rather painful-looking area of charred flesh. He gave them a rather weak smile, his face twitching slightly as a short spurt of pain washed down his arm.

"Heh...couldn't think of something less...direct?"

"Sir, if you could point us in the direction of something with a little more 'oompf' and we'll be as direct as you need. Though, more importantly we need to get you moving." Kokuten smiled, noting his wound. With his rifle still in hand, still being presented to the Elysian, he nodded to the people he had assigned to Vanderhuge.

"Assist him, get him up the stairs, and find something to help clean and cover that wound." The Doctor ordered, pointing down the hall, and to the staircase. He looked back at Serra and shook the weapon in her face.

"Ms. Evangelle?"

Serra took the offered rifle with little objection. "Well," she said, looking back at the piles of ash on the deck. "If we need to see in the dark, we all have flashlights now."

Scarlet's salute was just as ridiculously well-executed as Fetch's, but when she went to carry out the order she could only glance over to Noboru with a totally blank expression. The Spacer had no idea who Vanderhuge was.

When she realised that somebody was wounded, however, (Regardless of the fact it was coincidentally the person she was told protect), Scarlet instantly ran over and eyed the individual's injuries at close range anyway.

"...I'm... terribly sorry sir." She regarded the hulking figure, with a tone of absolute sincerity in her voice. "This wound should've been mine, I wasn't fast enough. Wasn't thinking with a clear head..."

Palming her empty pistol holster again, Scarlet looked around for a weapon, and settled for snapping a long piece of metal safety bracketing off the wall. "...It won't happen again." Her voice had become concrete and unquestioning again in an instant. With a free mechanical hand she offered to take the massive ID-Sol's weight on her shoulder, with the promise of leading him away.

If they had had the time, Cyril would have pressed the issue more. Keziah was obviously shaken up. But they didn't have the time, not right now, so Cyril could only nod understandingly. Once they had managed to take care of the Uniques, then there'd be time, if nothing else, to scrounge up a bottle of industrial cleaning alcohol.

"That's the best bet. 'prolly get our asses shot off, but at least we'll slow 'em up a bit, eh?" He said, shifting focus to the upcoming combat. The tunnels weren't exactly an impregnable bunker, but they would cut some of the incoming fire. Still, splitting up a bit would cut the fire even more. This particular spot had a sharp enough angle that most of the incoming fire would be hitting the ceiling of the hanger below. Which meant... "You take this grill, I'll scuttle down and take the next. Take a pot at them once they head up the stairs, try and get 'em confused. Or something like that, I dunno. I'm just a navy puke, eh?"

Before he crawled off, Cyril leaned forward and clasped Keziah on the shoulder. "And Kaz? Give 'em one for those poor sods down below."

Cyril crawled quickly further down the tunnel. He didn't want to miss the show because he'd been a little slow moving. Once he'd gotten to his chosen grill, he carefully perched himself to get the best field of fire. It wasn't much really, but hopefully it'd be enough.

Cyril didn't know just what the Unique's armor was capable of stopping. It definitely looked capable, in that needlessly artistic Yamataian way, but he hadn't seen it in action against anything yet. All he had to hope for was that they had only taken the design aesthetic from the Yammies, and not a whole lot else. Leptonium plating would really mess up his day, so Cyril took his chances and aimed for their joints rather then their torsos like he'd been trained.

Once they found the stairs and started up, Cyril would take a shot at the one of the straggelers near the end of their line. If he could take one of them down, that'd be great. But he was mindful of the odds and contented himself with just hoping to get their attention.

All she could do was nod. She was furiously gnawing on her lip, trying to keep her focus as she shifted into position and aimed her rifle, pressing the barrel through the tiny opening of the grate. At least it'd keep any recoil in check.

Numbers and words buzzed through her head as she took aim, waiting to hear Cyril stop moving. The best she could do was probably shoot up their camis, but even that might be enough to piss them off and take them off their cool game.

Just as Cyril said, she waited for them to head to the stairs, but once they moved she didn't wait to take precision shots. She just sprayed the entire group down there with her ceramic bullets, emptying her magazine before she even thought of moving.